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JEDPL Reviews: Naruto
What a Ferocious Friday this is so far, ladies and gentlemen. And now before the actual show, I present to you a really half-assed conversation between me, a ninja hound, and Batman... Ouroburos: "Okay, you know why I called you two here today..." (Ouroburos the Extreme Conquerer is sitting underneath a lamp post with a dog who can talk while wearing a ninja outfit and Batman, who feels ashamed that Robin knew his parents more than he did his own) Dog: "What the f*** is going on!? I thought you promised me that you would take me to see that new Fullmetal Alchemist movie!" Ouroburos: "Yeah, you thought wrong... Apparently, one of Masashi Kishimoto's fanboys tied me to a flagpole made out of kunai knives and forced me to review Naruto earlier. That's why I need your help!" Batman: "I'm just.... here, because I'm Batman!" Ouroburos: {rolls eyes} "We know." Dog: "To be frank, I gotta wonder why you keep making up these stupid-as-all-Hell stories before each and every one of your reviews. Are you just not trying anymore?" (The ninja dog is slapped repeatedly by Ouroburos) Dog: "Bitch!!" Ouroburos: "First of all, Medaka Box started it all officially! Second: if you're complaining like an asshole, why did I drag you here to begin with?" Dog: "'Cause you're a friggin' idiot!" Dog: {scoffs} "This conversation is going nowhere..." Batman: "I'm Rich Batman!" (The leader's no professional...) Just to clarify, everybody, I will NOT put short stories up everytime prior to commencing the actual review of anything I'm tackling, whether it be anime, movies, or just predictions. Greetings, honorable Children of the Animapredictview Wiki, I'm the Extreme Conquerer, Ouroburos, who completely disregarded that English dub prediction of Digimon Fusion. I am gratefully sorry, for I just have not seen it to even give it a review... let alone a dream voice cast. I might as well reconsider any reckless actions I, as the founder of Animapredictview, tend to make. And for those of you who are still pondering, I still plan to create a prediction; something I have watched quite a number of times to make an article about it here on this wiki. I'll no longer start up deadlines ever again, for they usually cause a shitload of trouble in the long run. For the final time, I. Am. Sorry. So it's high time I buckle down for my final review of this month of July, and the program in question is sure a HUMDINGER of a series, both in-universe and out of it. This franchise has a large quantity of supporters, as well as HATERS. It is one of Shonen Jump's best-selling manga series, dishing out way more than just 126.5 million copies alone back in Japan (HOLY GUACAMOLE, DIP MY ASS IN MACARONI!!!!). With an anime adaptation produced by Studio Pierrot and Aniplex nearly twelve years ago (its successor came out shortly after Part I's last run and still airs to this day) and other media such as OVAs and video games, one can argue that it deserves to be next to Bleach and One Piece in terms of "Big Three" quality. So without further adieu, everybody, it's time for my ol' dumbass self to dive right into.. Naruto! Naruto is a series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto, who is often regarded as a Troll in the community. Heck, I bet it's impossible to even choose between him and Tite Kubo! The original manga adaptation was published by Shueisha in 1999 with currently sixty-three volumes so far, with Viz Media earning the rights in North America. The anime, like I mentioned earlier, started in 2002 and ended five years later with 220 episodes (needless filler and all); Viz also has the license to the TV series and has aired it here in the United States via the likes of Neon Alley and Toonami (twice, mind you; slightly edited while on Cartoon Network and completely uncut on Adult Swim's Toonami block). Did I bring up the crapton of merchandise!? I mean, Jesus Christ, from light novels to movies to even gaming, not even Kishimoto expected his masterpiece to become THAT popular! I kid you not: this man was the one who initially thought his one-shot had a terrible story and a messy visual style! {clears throat} So the plot is ab--- Oooooh, speaking of which, quick prologue! Twelve years prior to the start of the series, a dangerous beast known as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox devastated Konohagakure, killing many people in the process. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed his very life to seal the bastard inside a newborn with spiky yellow hair. Enter the titular main character himself, Naruto Uzumaki, a hyperactive young boy who is regarded as the demon fox itself by most of the villagers and, to other peers, an idiot. In order to achieve recognition, our chain smo--- {ahem} Sorry, our ''main character ''aspires to become the Hokage, a leader in Konoha. Because of how cheerful and boisterous he is, Naruto tends to make allies with pretty much every other ninja in not just Konoha, but from other villages as well. I guess that's a given for a lot of Shonen protagonists, since I've rarely heard of one who is more brooding than he or she is outgoing! Jotaro Kujo, maybe? I dunno... Continued, Naruto is assigned with Sasuke Uchiha (rival of the central protagonist), aka "Raven Butthead" (aka-aka "The Emo", according to a few folks) and Sakura Haruno (a pink-haired bimbo who is primarily useless and thinks of only Sasuke in the very beginning) to form a three-person squad named Team 7, under an experienced sensei, Kakashi Hatake (he is NOT David Bowie!). Similar to all the groups in all of the villages, they are expected to complete missions requested by the inhabitants, such as doing chores and acting as bodyguards. What makes this fact so hilarious is that these guys aren't even performing typical stuff a real ninja would do, at least through my eyes anyway; I've always thought that ninja did nothing but assassination and stealth. Also, their choice of attire WASN'T orange jumpsuits and they sure as Hell weren't loud-mouthed, both figuratively and literally speaking. Anyhoo, that's beside the point! By the by, what I just explained there was merely the premise in a nutshell. If you were looking forward to me telling you about the entire plot, then.... Then.... N-O. Firstly, Naruto has dragged on AND ON AND ON ever since 1999, and granted, that isn't as horrific as, say, Dragon Ball, but at least that series came to a solid conclusion. Much like with One Piece and Bleach, the best of the Shonen series just doesn't know when it's going to make a dead end; Kishimoto himself is dumbfounded on the subject. So whenever it comes to me reviewing a series immensely popular nearly everywhere in the world, I'll be more than happy to talk about just the premise and not the ENTIRE F***ING STORYLINE!!! Some might think I'm coming across as "lazy" or "outright ignorant", but I just do a ton of these reviews the way I see fit. And I finish these for fun, too! I'm no professional critic or writer like the Nostalgia Critic or, y'know, the deceased Roger Ebert (bless his soul). If anything, I'm no Anime News Network employee or whatever, either! The plot of Naruto in itself is certainly inconsistent: there are instances where the anime will be smooth sailing, what with its developing characters and impressive Jutsu, which are techniques and abilities that ninja can manipulate a form of energy known as chakra. But of course, there are also those certain times where the series goes into Retard Mode regarding the tedious lengths of half of the battles (not to mention the repetitive formula) and some of the comedy, which by itself is decent enough, but when mixed in with the most dire of situations, is just silly. That makes reason #1 of how Fullmetal Alchemist is better than Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: Mood Whiplash can be unnecessary depending on the director or the writers alone. Now I feel that during this time, we can move on to the characters. One of the strongest aspects of Naruto has to be the distinct personalities of each role, and their own backstories. Despite Naruto himself being quite irksome at first, this is a part of what defines him and that, alongside his determination, makes him a worthy central protagonist. Sasuke might be your average rival, but unlike Vegeta, there's more to him than meets the eye; for instance, he is the only remaining member of the Uchiha Clan, not counting his elder brother, Itachi. Also, viewers can, at the very least, relate to his actions and behavior. All Vegeta ever did was have a big ego and wanted only to fight Goku; he might be one of the greatest anime villains nostalgically, but looking back, even Gohan was better than him in this department! The main gripe I have with Naruto has to be not the animation, not the presentation, not the characters themselves.... BUT THE AMOUNT OF CHARACTERS THE DAMN SERIES HAS TO OFFER!!!! Holy shit, are there almost more than, like, hundreds of them. The worst bit of this whole thing has to be that the background, filler, and one-time characters don't receive a whole lot of progression. Even if it IS obvious that they have personalities, there's only so little that they do, which affects the anime not one iota. A majority of them are even throwaways, which makes you wonder why Kishimoto came up with their designs in the first place! To add life, probably? I don't see it.... I definitely appreciate the visual style of Naruto. The characters themselves can look rather mature at times and also quite spirited, which I like in my anime or manga. Although Kishimoto sure enjoyed those blank stares whenever hilarity ensued! {chuckles} One of my favorite designs have to belong to that of Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru; a boy and his dog, indeed. The animation, depending on who you ask, is either great or just plain bad. Me personally? My brain might be in the middle for that one. The fight scenes are impressive enough, seeing as how you expect to see flashy moves used in the most interesting of ways, but unfortunately, the characters can get affected by this horribly at times. You want proof? Check out Naruto's second fight with Sasuke when the latter gets hit; how the almight f*** can someone make a face like that in real life, huh!? HUH!?!? It might be that around the time the filler arcs came to be, the animation quality either worsened because of: A) The budget was very close to becoming merely nothing. or B) Different animation studios were brought in. The audio is a mixed bag. The original soundtrack composed by Toshio Masuda has to be one of my all-time personal favorites because of how exuberant and diverse most of the pieces are in terms of setting the mood, yet there were those occasional scenes where the music felt as if it were overwhelming the context of any particular moment or just, to be frank, underpowered. Thankfully, the opening and ending themes help certain people overlook this drawback; by the way, I like the most when it comes to openings are in order from least to greatest: 4, 3, 7, and 5, and the endings: 3, 1, 9, 8, and..... OH HELL, THEY'RE ALL GREAT TO AN EXTENT!!!! The first Japanese opening is still memorable, but also on the dull side of the spectrum; when Cartoon Network first aired Naruto, they replaced this opening AND the third one with Jeremy Sweet and Ian Nickus' "Rise", a powerful opener with minimal lyrics and less than a minute and although it's catchy, I don't find it to be as iconic as "Rocks" by Hound Dog. The voice acting works well enough for both the English and Japanese versions, with a slight advantage given to the latter... not because I'm a weeaboo or anything, but the dub sometimes has the cast hamming it up in areas that weren't needed and have you heard them in the PlayStation 2 video game, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja? Oh, sweet Vishnu is the sound mixing bad in that installment! Luckily, they got better as episodes and episodes kept on airing and nearly hit the stride. Final verdict Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto, can be looked at as a Love It or Hate It-type of series... Well, that's just how I'll see it. Much of the characters are really fleshed out, the original soundtrack kicks major amounts of ass, the artwork is intriguing, and the usage of Jutsu showcased can be unique at times. The problems mainly lie in the inconsistent animation quality, the enormous roster of characters in the series, the fights dragging on longer than they should (complete with a samey formula), and those godawful filler arcs that did nothing to improve the plot in itself. Anyway, I'm Ouroburos the Extreme Conquerer and I'll hope to see. You. Later! Pros *Most of the visuals are quite a thrill to look at *Naruto offers its cast of characters with rather distinct personalities *The entire concept behind Jutsu mainly come across as fascinating *Toshio Masuda did a spectacular job with the score Cons *There were times when the animation quality became inconsistent or worse than usual *Battles start and end very typically; half of which go on for longer than they actually should *The last 85 episodes are nothing but boring filler, which adds not much of anything in order to help the storyline *For a series such as this, having an extensive amount of characters is perhaps going to be plain to see: but not when the throwaways are background, filler, or one-time people! Category:Review